It is conventional practice in the hospitality industry to use trays for serving drinks and/or food to groups of people. The waiter or waitress typically carries a tray laden with drinks balanced on one hand, leaving his or her second hand free to serve the drinks from the tray to the customer.
Unless the waiter or waitress is experienced in supporting a tray with one hand, there is a constant danger of spillage of drinks or breakage of glassware caused by the tray tipping and the waiter or waitress not being able to react to the tipping force such that the tray remains substantially horizontal. Even the most skilled of serving staff may experience a moment of uncertainty when sliding a filled tray from the counter until they have control of the tray.
It is known to provide trays with flexible straps on the underside of the tray, through which a waiter or waitress can insert their hand. However, such arrangements are cumbersome for the end user, do not provide sufficient control in order to exert a large enough reactive force to counteract a tipping moment, and can require the tray to be controlled with the serving hand in order to extricate the hand from the strap.
It is also known to fix a rigid carrying handle to the underside of a tray, onto which the waiter or waitress can grasp. However, such an arrangement expends considerable energy, causing fatigue, and does not allow efficient stacking of like trays when not in use.
There is a continued need for alternative and preferably improved trays which address at least some of the issues mentioned above.